Westside Elementary closed until 2018

Westside Elementary in Scott will be closed until January of 2018 while the school undergoes repairs from the flood.

Westside Elementary will remain closed until 2018 while the school board makes $6.7 million worth of renovations to the campus.

The school took on eight inches of water during the flood. Floors, wall, cabinets and school supplies were damaged by the water.

Kyle Bordelon with LPSS said Westside was built in the 1950s and parts of the school were not up to code when the flood hit. He said because the cost of repairs exceeds 50-percent of the building's value, it must be brought up to code.

Now a sprinkler system has to be installed inside the school, bathrooms have to be made handicap accessible and the air conditioning has to be brought up to the "fresh air" requirements.

Mary Morrison, district 1 school board member, said they anticipate construction will start on the school in Feb. and will finish in Jan. of 2018.

"It's a perfect opportunity for us to actually have almost a brand new school in our district for $6.7 million, so we are excited about that," Morrison said.

Currently students are being bused to N.P. Moss Preparatory School and Scott Middle School.

"It's pretty tough for him," Mary Beth Langlinais whose second grade son goes to Westside said. "He has to get on one bus, get dropped off on another bus at another school and they go to N.P. Moss. He doesn't get off till about till 4:30."

The students are still taught by their teacher from Westside, but they are using N.P. Moss and Scott Middle School's facilities.

"The children, they love their school," Morrison said. "They miss their school at Westside and they're going to be excited when they are able to walk down those halls in a new school a new environment."

In the meantime, there are two options for the students. Modular classrooms could be set up at either Scott Middle School or Westside and students would go to school there. That will only happen if FEMA will pay for 90-percent. If not, children will continue to be bused to N.P. Moss and Scott Middle until Westside is complete.

"I think if the school got the butler buildings and all the kids were back together it would be normal for him and it wouldn't be so much of seeing different kids and wondering why," Langlinais said.

An inconvenience now but some think the payoff will be worth the wait.

"I told Logan yesterday 'you are going to get a new school but you're going to be at this other school for a long time' but he was excited," Langlinais said. "He was like 'I get a brand new school' and I go 'yeah' and he goes 'I can wait.' "

"It's not going to be a long time," Morrison said. "It's going to be here before you know it."

The Department of Interior will offer 77.3 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development, according to Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.

The Department of Interior will offer 77.3 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development, according to Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.